BBB Issues Customer Survey Scam Alert With Summer Twist
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- An old scam is back, but with a summer twist.
The Better Business Bureau is warning people of fake offers promising gift cards in exchange for taking a quick customer survey.
The BBB says you may get an email or see a post on Facebook or Twitter urging you to claim a free voucher or gift card to put towards a summer vacation.
The link may lead to a real survey, but the BBB says when you complete it, the gift card is "out of stock."
The link could also be a phishing scam looking for banking and credit card information, or it could download malware to steal your passwords and other information.
Here are a few tips from the Better Business Bureau on how to spot a fake voucher scam:
• Look up the website on WhoIs. Right click on the link and select "Copy Link Address." Then, paste this destination URL into the WhoIs.net directory. This directory will tell you when and to whom a domain is registered. If the URL is brand new, or if the ownership is masked by a proxy service, consider it a big warning sign of a scam.
• Watch out for look-alike URLs. Scammers pick URLs that look similar to those of legitimate sites. Be wary of sites that have the brand name as a subdomain of another URL (i.e. brandname.scamwebsite.com), part of a longer URL (i.e. companynamebooking.com) or use an unconventional top level domain (the TLD is the part of the name after the dot).
• Legitimate businesses do not ask for credit card numbers or banking information on customer surveys. If they do ask for personal information, like an address or email, be sure there's a link to their privacy policy.
• Watch out for a reward that's too good to be true. If the survey is real, you may be entered in a drawing to win a gift card or receive a small discount off your next purchase. Few businesses give away $100 gift cards just for answering a few questions.
Finally, here's a link to the BBB's Scam Stopper website.
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